Introspection
by manyissues101
Summary: Leon, on: Yuffie, Cloud, running away, magic, Heartless, and Squall.


"I'm going to make you like me."

Grey eyes turn brown and Leon thinks he's losing his sanity. It's peeling away, layer by layer, leaving something rough (Squall) underneath.

"Get out of my way, Yuffie."

She sticks her tongue out of the side of her mouth. "You're a big meanie, Squall."

He's losing it.

"It's Leon," he deadpans, sidestepping her and walking closer to his newly found training cavern.

"No, it's _Squall_. That's what Aerith told me. She said that your name reminds you of something, that you're running away from all your demons, and that you changed it so that you could run faster."

He thinks that maybe he should want to laugh, but he definitely doesn't. It's his angels he's running from.

"We're all running from something," he replies as the air around him _pops_ and the darkness finds a physical shape. He takes them down in a few easy slashes, because he's Squall Leonheart, SeeD extraordinaire, Commander of Balamb Garden, hero of the Second Sorceress War, and a damned near useless refugee of the lovely Traverse Town.

"'cept I don't think it's the Heartless you're running from," Yuffie quips.

He could fire back and ask her what she's running from, but he won't. It's not because he isn't mean (because he is) but because he doesn't want to hear her sob story. He doesn't want to know what she's chasing, what's chasing her—she's just a child, but she's got Aerith (not so much Cid and Cloud) for that, to reminisce and talk about the good ole' days.

Maybe that's why he left Squall behind. Yuffie, Aerith, Cid, and Cloud had each other to remind themselves, and he had no one. No Rinoa, no Selphie, no Zell, no Irvine, no Quistis…_hell_, he'd even take _Seifer_ for company. At least he'd get a _real_ sparring partner, someone who wasn't a little cheat of a ninja girl. Cloud was decent, but he was _Cloud_—there one minute, gone the next, leaving nothing but Aerith's tears and the ghost of the name Sephiroth behind. It took less than the wind to blow that man away.

Yuffie skipped closer and somehow ended up in from of him—she was good, he'd never denied that—eyes twinkling like a moogle candle (she never went out). Magic here frustrated him, like most things. It could be taught—people could do it with a mere lesson, and that was disturbing. It was certainly more convenient that letting a bunch of mystical memory munchers make a nest in your brain, but Leon thought it was a little dangerous. He'd seen what magic could do, and it was best left out of common hands.

Yuffie had told him about materia (and then Aerith had explained it). It made sense, he thought, using magic in physical manifestations. But it had gotten the world in trouble too, proving it was good for little more than bad. And, of course, he couldn't think about the good and bad of magic without thinking of _her_, who could use magic all by herself, with no training, and she used it for good. His Sorceress—

"Squall? Hello?"

Yuffie is still standing in his way, hands on her hips.

"Move, Yuffie."

"Nice manners," she retorts, but steps aside regardless. "Where're you going?"

None of your business. "The Waterway."

"I don't see why you fight imaginary monsters all day when you could be fighting real ones."

Because it's dangerous? No, the Heartless around here were all weak after Sora had sealed the Keyhole. Because each of them was someone's Zell, Quistis, Selphie, Irvine. Someone's Rinoa.

His, maybe.

"…" he replies, which isn't really a reply, and so Yuffie doesn't allow it to be one.

"I'm not going to leave you alone, Squall. Not until you tell me that we're friends."

"Don't you have someone else to annoy?"

She keeps her hands on her hips like a twelve year old and stands her ground like a woman. "Cloud's gone—and his sword's bigger than yours and he's gone so crazy that he might actually think I'm Sephiroth and try to kill me with it—and Cid chased me out of his shop with a broom earlier. Which normally wouldn't stop me bother him while he tries to work, considering he usually chases me out with a really heavy wrench, but the only reason he was chasing me today was on account of the fact that I _stole his wrench, so_…"

Squall rolls his eyes as she takes an impossible breath. Yuffie isn't as childish has she came across—she was as grown up as him, really, but she didn't want to be. He didn't mind it too much—though he'd never tell her, or anyone, that—because she reminded him of a mix between Zell and Selphie most of the time.

"You can come with me," he says finally, actually surprising her.

"You're actually inviting me along? As in, I can come with _permission_? Sweet!"

"…Whatever."

He feels like he's losing his mind sometimes—but then again, maybe they all are.


End file.
